If you were wearing a helmet, but a police officer wrote a helmet ticket to you anyway, scan and send a copy of that ticket to the BOLT webmaster.It is important to realize your helmet ticket is worth its weight in gold. If you plan on paying it or fighting it, email a copy of the ticket to BOLT of California.

There is a core group represented here that had vowed to do "whatever it takes" to protect themselves against bad laws and bad cops. This began BOLT of California.

At this HLDL/BOLT Summit we also hammered out the well knownlist of 12 questions for the NHTSA/DOT.May 1993.

Proceeds from this 3" x 5 1/2" patch go to the costs and fees for the current legal challenge to help stop the improper enforcement of thehelmet law by the Sacramento Sheriff and the Rancho Cordova PD. Quigley is Gone But Not Forgotten.

You may also simply donate any amount to the fund to pay for the fees and costs of the law suit. To do this, contact the BOLT of California webmaster, using thelink at the top of this page.

BOLT appreciates the donations and support Freedom minded riders in California and across the country have provided by contributing to this fund.

Thomas Jefferson said the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance.This website explains what that vigilance is, and what you can do to BE vigilant.

How much of your own freedom are you willing to earn?

Site Navigation

3" x 10" bumper sicker - $3.00

As a result of our 2008 legal action against the California Highway Patrol, Quigley v. CHP and our 2006 case that evolved into CHP v. Superior Court, the CHP negotiated a 2009 enforcement policy change with us.

What does this mean for motorcyclists in California?We don't know the future, but we can give our opinion. It is important to note that this policy change is by the CHP and only effects their officers, but it does, in fact, reflect the changes to the Bail and Penalty schedule which sets penalties statewide. Therefore, we would expect all allied enforcement agencies to align their policy with the CHP.

However, this new CHP policy ignores the ruling from Buhl v. Hannigan, that says neither an officer nor a consumer is expected to be able to determine compliance by visual inspection, a proposition that the Buhl court said was "absurd"Note the reference in 08-071 to the phrase "obviously not a motorcycle helmet," which assumes a visual inspection enables one to determine proper fabrication. It assumes a motorcycle manufacturer cannot fabricate a helmet that visually resembles another type of headgear.

While we have no doubt that the CHP is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to helmet law enforcement, we also see the good faith effort they are showing in an attempt to legally enforce a vague and ambiguous law, both as written and applied.

The new policy does take steps to minimize Rights violations by LEO, but it does not fix the problem. The only fix in our opinion would be a listof compliant helmets; thus we continue to say: No list? No Law!The Judge in Quigley v CHP did not rule that the helmet law was not vague, only that we had not presented ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO MAKE THE CASE. The vagueness issue is still viable. The Judge stated that the law needs to be "cleaned up."

Those requirements in Buhl and Bianco are reiterated by Federal Judge Napoleon Jones in the EasyRiders v. Hannigan case.

On May 25, 1995, the district court issued its decision on Easyriders' request for a permanent injunction. Easyriders Freedom F.I.G.H.T. v. Hannigan, 887 F. Supp. 240 (S.D. Cal. 1995). The district court found that under the California helmet law as interpreted by Buhl and Bianco, a motorcyclist wearing a helmet that does not comply with Standard 218 can violate the helmet law in two situations:

(1) where the helmet did not bear a certification of compliance at the time of sale, or(2) where the helmet did bear a certification but(a) the helmet has been shown, by failing a FMVSS 218 test, not to conform with federal safety standards and(b) the person being cited has actual knowledge of a showing of non-conformity with federal standards.

Scan and send a copy of any and every helmet ticketwhether you want to fight it, or pay the fine without a defense.

The New Law Suit in California:B.O.L.T. vs Sacramento Sheriff's Department and theRancho Cordova Police Department

It has been 21 years since the federal Judge agreed with motorcyclists that law enforcement officers had been writing helmet tickets without Probable Cause, violating riders' Rights.

The 1995 Easyriders v. Hannigan federal lawsuit resulted in an Injunction against writing helmet tickets unless the citing officer has a recall notice from the manufacturer or has test results proving non-compliance. This documentation must be in the citing officer's hand before he writes the ticket. It must be specific to that exact helmet manufacturer, size, and model number. The officer must have proof that the helmet wearer knew of the recall and/or knew of the de-certification due to failure during the testing process - AND proof that the rider knew the helmet was not legal.

What has changed since 1995?

Have police officers across the state stopped writing tickets in violation of the injunction and federal case law?No, in fact Rancho Cordova Police Department averages 30 helmet tickets per year.The false arrests have not stopped. This violates Constitution and the 4th and 14th Amendment protections of motorcycle riders. B.O.L.T. filed a Class Action law suit in federal court on July 4, 2014.

The two biggest problems that lead to the 4th Amendment violations are:1.) Most riders and officers misunderstand how federal preemption, and case law, control what determines if a helmet is legal, or illegal.2.) Most riders honestly believe the federal government has approved the sale of certain helmets based on what they look like (though it doesn't), and they think a DOT sticker is issued by the Department of Transportation (but it isn't). In other words, many believe you must wear a "DOT approved" helmet. The earth is not flat, but it's not easy convincing some people who learned the earth is flat. It's hard to un-learn something you have believed so long: The DOT does not issue the certification stickers, and the DOT does not stamp approval on ANY helmets, or any other product.

BOLT has learned how many tickets were written by each police department in California in 2012 and in 2013. We have begun to act on this information, because we also know those same departments did not write any of those tickets based on the recall notices or test results described above by the federal court system as Probable Cause.Sacramento Sheriff's Department and Rancho Cordova PD are first. Who's next?

Donate now to help support our lawsuit filed in federal court on the Fourth of July, 2014.